'Empire' fans react to Prince tribute

On Empire, Hakeem wanted to throw his 1-year-old daughter, Bella, an extravagant Prince-themed birthday bash. He and his brother, Jamal, rocked out to a cover of Prince‘s “Let’s Go Crazy,” and the birthday crowd went wild.

The episode was directed by Sanaa Hamri, one of the directors and executive producers of Empire. But she had also directed several Prince music videos and wanted to make this tribute special. Showrunner Ilene Chaiken tweeted that Hamri arranged for Prince’s actual band to be a part of the show, and in the scene with Prince’s sister, Tyka Nelson played herself. Cookie asked Tyka, “Prince don’t celebrate no birthdays. Ain’t that right, Tyka?”

@EmpireWriters tweeted that they got permission from Prince’s family to put this tribute together, although they clearly didn’t get permission from his fans, with a few people tweeting GIFs of what Prince’s side-eye reaction from heaven might have looked like. One fan said, “His sister might have been there, but I feel like Prince would have hated this.”